SHANGLA: Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz provincial president Amir Muqam is in hot waters as his close relative and party’s senior leader Raja Pervaiz Khan is also running for the NA-11 seat against him, slimming his chances of winning the seat.

The seat is considered important because of the hometown of PML-N provincial chief. Mr Muqam was supposed to contest from PK-30, but he has picked his brother, Ibadullah Khan, for the provincial assembly seat, while he himself decided to contest the NA seat.

In the last two elections, Mr Ibadullah won the seat. However, this time around, the PML-N provincial chief has decided to contest the NA seat himself. He kept winning the seat from 2002 to 2013.

Sources in PML-N told Dawn that the party’s local leadership had expressed concern about Mr Ibadullah’s poor performance in the NA constituency, and urged Muqam to contest it himself.

Mr Muqam confirmed his decision to Dawn that he would be the candidate for NA-11, and his brother, Ibadullah would be contesting from PK-30, and former MPA Mohammad Rashad Khan from PK-28.

Mr Muqam said there would be no candidate of PML-N in PK-29 constituency, where the party would be supporting JUI-F’s Shaukat Ali.

Meanwhile, former PML-N MPA Fazlullah Khan said his father, Pir Mohammad Khan, was the mentor of Mr Muqam as he had brought him to politics, but the PML-N provincial chief had ditched them, forcing him to contest the elections as an independent candidate.

He said they would defeat Mr Muqam in all the constituencies, including NA-11 where his uncle, Raja Pervaiz Khan, was contesting the elections. He said he PK-29 and his other uncle, Mohammad Ali Khan, from PK-30.

Families of Fazlullah Khan and Amir Muqam are relatives, but they have now developed serious differences prior to elections.

The NA-11 seat won’t be easy to win for PML-N Khyber Pakhtunkhwa president as his rival, Haji Said Fareen, is likely to contest the elections from the seat on PTI ticket for the first time after leaving ANP in 2021.

Also, ANP candidate from Mr Muqam’s hometown, Aurangzeb Khan, is also in the fray, threatening the prospects of Mr Muqam. Besides, Haji Ghafar Khan is contesting NA-11 on Jamaat-i-Islami ticket.

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2024